Magazine Features Young CRC Volunteer

Samuel Geisterfer plans to travel from Alberta, Canada to Yurac Yacu, Peru this summer to help construct an expedition center to  serve the needs of tourists seeking to trek through the Andes mountains.

Currently, the 19-year-old, who is featured in a recently published magazine called "Top 30 Under 30," is busy helping to raise funds, along with other youths, to cover costs related to the center.

The goal of the center is to help local Peruvians bypass larger corporate tour agencies in order to be able to “sell their services as guides directly to visiting tourists,” he says in the magazine article in which he is featured.

Geisterfer, a member of the Christian Reformed Church, has been active as a volunteer since high school when he was a leader in raising funds for a clean-water project in Africa.

"At just 19 years of age, Samuel has applied his boundless energy to a long and diverse list of community development organizations from Calgary to Juarez, from Alabama to Yurac Yacu,” says the article.

Published by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, the magazine highlights men and women under the age of 30  from Alberta and the Global South who are making a difference in the world.

The Alberta Council for Global Cooperation is a coalition of voluntary sector organizations located in Alberta, working locally and globally to achieve sustainable human development.

Focusing on the theme “We are Making a Difference," this year’s issue of the “Top 30 Under 30” magazine was released during International Development Week, Feb. 2-8.

Others featured in this year’s magazine are such Calgarians as Sheliza Kassam and Ola Mohajer.

Sheliza Kassam is the 16-year old entrepreneur and philanthropist behind Children’s Birthday Miracles, benefiting homeless and at-risk youth in Canada, Peru, and even Tanzania. Ola Mohajer is an advocate for interfaith dialogue in Calgary, and a current United Nations intern in Zimbabwe.

While his faith is not highlighted in the magazine story, Geisterfer says his upbringing in the CRC has provided him a foundation on which to build as a volunteer, serving with World Renew Disaster Response Services, helping to clean up after tornadoes in Alabama. He also worked as a volunteer doing development work in Juarez,  Mexico.

“Being brought up with the support of those around me has definitely helped to instill a sense of community in my own life as well as acknowledging the importance of support,” he said in an interview.

“Furthermore, by being exposed to a variety of service projects and other various efforts funded by the CRC in the Global South … I was able to better comprehend that I have the ability to impact the world just as much as I would like to.”

Geisterfer says he has had the chance to build a range of relationships as a volunteer.

“This work allows you to connect to a large number of people from a variety of backgrounds while working towards a common goal of improving the lives of our fellow human beings.”

Volunteering in global settings especially helps to expand your horizons and to see the many needs that people around the world are experiencing, while at the same time seeing the value inherent in the lives of every human being, he says.

“Additionally,” Geisterfer says, “this type of work empowers youth to seek out an initiative for which they have a passion, and to see their efforts come to fruition in a manner that simultaneously benefits others is can have an overwhelmingly positive impact on their lives.”